Full Circle

Seoul can be a confusing place to navigate when you first arrive.  Since the subway is one of the easiest ways to get around if you're not familiar with the territory, it's hard to tell how each part of the city relates to the others because you're always traveling underground.  It's like virtual teleportation.  Adding to this are all the golmok, or alleys.  Branching out from every main road are countless 골목 and side roads that wind and weave their way into and through one another.  It doesn't help that many parts of Seoul look exactly like each other, from the buildings to the store fronts.  The first few weeks we were here, I had no idea where anything was.

 

Nowadays, every so often, we run across a part of the city that brings us back to those early days of confused and jet-lagged wandering.  "This is that place we got our ID's!" or "This is where we got lost!"  The above is a picture of one of the very first restaurants my aunt and uncle took us to after we moved here.  Inside they serve an amazing grilled, black pork that fills the whole room with a smoky goodness.  We stopped in here for lunch today after picking up some appliances for our new apartment, which happens to be right in the neighborhood.  We had no idea, of course, when we signed the lease a few weeks ago.  Needless to say, I plan to be eating a lot more here, along with the taxi drivers who seem to frequent the place in droves.

It's really strange to be taken back to those first few weeks with trips like this.  That time seems to have happened in such a surreal haze that it's nice to go back and see the same things again with a little more clarity (and sleep).  Another plus: with our now seasoned tastes for Korean food we were able to tell some of the subtler differences in the flavor of the pork and the various side dishes.  To reiterate, it was really good.  I can still taste the fresh garlic in my mouth (and it's dinner time now).

Editor's Note: Nissa was showing her Korean pride by wearing her soccer jersey all day.  South Korea plays Uruguay tonight.  The whole country's gone football crazy.